In 2009,
the Obama Administration decided to expand cultural exchanges between the U.S. and Cuba.
That's a legitimate policy option, which may sound harmless in concept.
However,
it has serious implications, particularly at a time when the Castro regime is amidst an economic and political
meltdown.
If the Castro regime were to have chosen, or even be inclined towards, a path of economic liberalization and political tolerance, then cultural exchanges could serve a bilateral purpose. Nonetheless,
the Castro regime has chosen the backwards path of absolute control and increased repression.
As such, we are giving the Castro regime an opportunity to "distract the U.S. with culture."
The more the State Department is focused on unscrupulously granting visas to Cuban artists authorized by the regime ("authorized artists"), and the more the media -- and even the Cuban-American community -- is focused on Carlos Varela, Los Van-Van, La Charanga Habanera and Duo Buena Fe, the less they focus on the systemic repression against the island's political prisoners, pro-democracy leaders, human rights activists, independent journalists, independent labor leaders, bloggers and so forth.
In other words, the less they focus on Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, Dr. Darsi Ferrer, Ariel Sigler Amaya, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez "Antunez," Yoani Sanchez, Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta, Claudia Cadelo, Guillermo Farinas, Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, Claudio Fuentes (a photographer who was just arrested last week) and
the countless others, who vastly outnumber these authorized artists, yet only receive a fraction of the attention.
Furthermore,
this cultural smoke-screen hurts artistic expression on the island as well -- for as the U.S. takes steps to allow greater numbers of authorized artists to perform in the U.S., the Castro regime is
cracking down on critical artists on the island.
The fact remains that Cuba has an abundance of domestic talent that deserves to be heard, but the regime refuses to allow them to publicly perform, freely broadcast or record. They include well-known rockers like
Porno Para Ricardo and rappers like
Los Aldeanos.
And that's not to mention Cuban-American artists that are wildly popular on the island. If you somehow think the 2,700 tickets sold (out of the 5,000 seat capacity of the James L. Knight Center) for last weekend's Van Van concert in Miami is noteworthy, it's nothing compared to the 2.7 million plus that would eagerly gather from every corner of Cuba to see Willy Chirino or Gloria Estefan perform on the island.
Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen, for
our current cultural policy is applied one-way -- Castro's authorized artists can perform in the U.S., but Cuban-American artists are strictly prohibited on the island.
Bottom line -- it's one thing to promote cultural ties between the U.S. and Cuba, but not at the cost of the real problem, which is the repressive relationship between the Castro regime and the Cuban people.
Let's be careful not to get silently absorbed into the "dog and pony" show of these authorized artists, while the entire spectrum of Cuban civil society -- including critical artists -- is being violently censored.
That's exactly the type of distraction the Castro regime wants to create here, so it can repress with impunity at home.